It was bound to happen eventually and I can't really be too surprised since I'm the queen of Internet stalking but this morning I received a friend request and email from an ex-boyfriend on Facebook. Actually he's not just any ex-boyfriend, he was my first really serious boyfriend, the first boy that cheated on me (that I know of) and the first boy to really break my heart.
Now I don't want to give the wrong impression that I'm somehow still broken hearted over this guy or that I've spent the past 9 years missing him because that could not be further from the truth. Trust. This kid was a hot mess, all my friends and family hated him, he was even banned from coming to my house and my brother would hang up on him whenever he called me. He was a loser with a capital L.
Why did I date him? Well mainly because I was a dumb 17 year old when I met him and I thought he was completely different from who he actually turned out to be. Meaning I thought he was a cute, funny, preppy guy and really he was a ghetto, wanna be the next Eminem high school dropout.
We haven't spoken to or seen each other since 2001 when he moved to Missouri and basically dropped off the radar. Over the years I have wondered about whatever happened to him and if he ever ended up in jail, which wouldn't have surprised me. Or if maybe he grew up, got his act together and became an upstanding member of society.
Well based on what I could tell from his profile, his almost 30 year old self isn't much different than the wanna-be ghetto superstar 17 year old boy I met. Sad really. In his email he mentioned he has a baby girl now though his profile says he's single. The only thing surprising about this is that it didn't happen sooner.
I did write him back, congratulated him on his baby and told him I was getting married soon.
I can't believe after this long without any contact he pops back up less than 2 months before I get married. Maybe it's God way of reminding me how far I've come and how amazing Kristian is compared to the men from my past. Not that I really needed that reminder :)
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Girls Weekend
My bridal shower/bachelorette party this past weekend went really well. It was great seeing everyone and spending some quality time with some of my favorite girls.
My bridesmaid Colleen and I rode down to Raleigh together and arrived Friday night. We stayed with my MOH Krista and after going to dinner with her, her husband Todd and their friend Mike we promptly fell asleep. It had been a long day.
Saturday we went for a quick breakfast at Panera and then while the girls were setting up I went for a manicure. The girls had setup some tasty little finger foods along with some beer and wine. It was a small group of some of my college friends but I prefer smaller groups, makes thing much easier.
The 'theme' of the shower was "Around the House" apparently everyone was assigned a room of the house and they had to buy a present that would go in that room. I have to say the funniest gift that we got based on the theme was from my friend Emily who gave us Mini video camcorder we registered for to go with her assigned room which was the Bedroom! I love how that girl's mind works!
In addition to the theme everyone was sent a card with the invitation to write a memory they have of me so the shower turned into somewhat of a roast with me reading a bunch of embarassing moments that my friends so kindly decided to remind me of!
We got a lot of great gifts and when I got home and showed Kristian everything he really geeked out over all the kitchen stuff since he's the resident cook in our household. I was even surprised with a gift from my friend Spanky's parents which I thought was super sweet.
After the shower we all just sat around and laughed, gossiped and caught up for the next 2 hours until it was finally time to get ready to go out.
Even though I told them NO Penis paraphenalia they did buy me a Bachelorette sash and tiara to wear. I left the tiara at home but did wear the sash...I figured it might help us get some free drinks...and it did!
We went to dinner at The Rockford in downtown Raleigh then off to a bar called The Patio (I think) for drinks. A very enthusiastic WVU fan came over and bought us all drinks and shots since he was celebrating WVU's win that night (side note- I have them set to win on my bracket). Our bartendar was great and after finding out two of the girls are pregnant he continued to bring them juice and water free of charge. When I tried to buy myself a beer he refused to charge me. Gotta love the sash!
Everyone seemed to have a great time and despite us being a bit older now and not able to party like we use to the night was a success. I can't thank my friends enough for helping me celebrate!
My bridesmaid Colleen and I rode down to Raleigh together and arrived Friday night. We stayed with my MOH Krista and after going to dinner with her, her husband Todd and their friend Mike we promptly fell asleep. It had been a long day.
Saturday we went for a quick breakfast at Panera and then while the girls were setting up I went for a manicure. The girls had setup some tasty little finger foods along with some beer and wine. It was a small group of some of my college friends but I prefer smaller groups, makes thing much easier.
The 'theme' of the shower was "Around the House" apparently everyone was assigned a room of the house and they had to buy a present that would go in that room. I have to say the funniest gift that we got based on the theme was from my friend Emily who gave us Mini video camcorder we registered for to go with her assigned room which was the Bedroom! I love how that girl's mind works!
In addition to the theme everyone was sent a card with the invitation to write a memory they have of me so the shower turned into somewhat of a roast with me reading a bunch of embarassing moments that my friends so kindly decided to remind me of!
We got a lot of great gifts and when I got home and showed Kristian everything he really geeked out over all the kitchen stuff since he's the resident cook in our household. I was even surprised with a gift from my friend Spanky's parents which I thought was super sweet.
After the shower we all just sat around and laughed, gossiped and caught up for the next 2 hours until it was finally time to get ready to go out.
Even though I told them NO Penis paraphenalia they did buy me a Bachelorette sash and tiara to wear. I left the tiara at home but did wear the sash...I figured it might help us get some free drinks...and it did!
We went to dinner at The Rockford in downtown Raleigh then off to a bar called The Patio (I think) for drinks. A very enthusiastic WVU fan came over and bought us all drinks and shots since he was celebrating WVU's win that night (side note- I have them set to win on my bracket). Our bartendar was great and after finding out two of the girls are pregnant he continued to bring them juice and water free of charge. When I tried to buy myself a beer he refused to charge me. Gotta love the sash!
Everyone seemed to have a great time and despite us being a bit older now and not able to party like we use to the night was a success. I can't thank my friends enough for helping me celebrate!
(The food setup)
(Cheers!)
(My ribbon bouquet)
(With 3 of my 4 bridesmaids...the girls on each end are the ones that are pregnant!)
(My friend Emily)
(My bachelorette gear...the tiara stayed at home!)
(dinner at The Rockford)
(there's Spanky doing a pretty standard pose)
(The mom's to be and our DD's for the night!)
(The WVU boy was a big fan of Jager Bombs)
(My good hair picture)
(Not sure why I look so terrified in this picture)
(Halpert helping us unpack the gifts when I got home)
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Pressies
Tonight when I got home I saw a Crate and Barrel box sitting on our doorstep. Our first gift off our registry had arrived! It was all I could do to restrain myself until Kristian got home and could open it with me.
We opened the box together to discover the gift was from Kristen and Kent! Unfortunately Kristen wasn't able to fly up for my shower this weekend but was kind enough to send along a present anyway. Isn't she the sweetest?!
They bought us two lovely candle holders from our registry which we now have on our mantle awaiting candles.
Thanks so much Kristen, you guys are the best and I can't wait to see you next month! Don't worry I'll be sending an official thank you note also :)
April 15th
This picture pretty much sums up how I'm feeling right now. Come April 15th good ol' Uncle Sam will be draining what little I have in my bank account so that I can pay EVEN more taxes than I already do throughout the year. Umm does he NOT know that I have a wedding a month later I'm trying to pay for. Asshole!
The past two years I actually got a pretty good refund back, I'm talking several hundred dollars so believe it or not I was kinda pysched about tax season, stupidly thinking I would get another similar refund back this year to go into the wedding fund. Alas no such luck.
I did my taxes myself using Turbo Tax for the first time ever (I'm such a big girl!). The past two years a former friend of mine whose an accountant did my taxes. The good thing is that since I'm still "technically" single and don't own a home my taxes are pretty straight forward and everyone said I could do them myself pretty easy.
Well when I saw how much I now OWED I freaked out and assumed I did something wrong. So I sent a copy of this year's 1040 and a copy of last year's to my older, smarter brother to double check and make sure I didn't forget anything. He looked it over and it appears that I do in fact owe this year. Apparently I made quite a bit more money this year than I did last year since I changed jobs and it pushed me into the next tax bracket. I guess I'm now too "rich" for refunds. HA! Ain't that a B!
Needless to say I will be waiting until around April 12th to file and pay. Instead of adding to my wedding fund I will be taking money out of it, essentially the cost of my wedding cake is what I owe the IRS. Next year should be interesting since we'll be filing jointly and we could potentially *fingers crossed* be selling our current place and buying something new. But you better believe we will be talking to a financial person about all this after the wedding to see what we can do to avoid having to owe next year.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Showered
I have two bridal showers that are being thrown for me. The first will be this weekend down in Raleigh, NC at my MOH's house. She and two of my other bridesmaids are hosting this first shower which is primarily for my college friends that are invited to the wedding. We decided to have a small shower in NC since that's where most of my college friends live and because it would be easier for my MOH to plan. Then Saturday night after the shower we will be going out for my bachelorette party!! I have no idea what's been planned for either and I like it that way.
The only thing I do know/have requested is no penis paraphernalia. To be honest I've never understood the whole point of weaing a penis necklace while drinking out of a penis straw for your bachelorette party. I guess back in the day when most chicks were still virgins on their wedding nights I could see how this would be "scandalous" but nowadays?? I hate to burst anyone's bubble but I have seen a penis before. Shocking I know! I have also requested no veils or other over the top accessories. Frankly I feel a bit too old for all that stuff.
My second shower will be at the end of April and is being hosted by my mother. The guest list for the second shower is made up of the female relatives and friends of the family. I didn't really want one big shower since I know most people hate sitting for two hours watching someone open presents, plus it's more expensive for the host when you have a larger guest list.
Now for the fun stuff. I bought two new dresses this past weekend for each of the showers. I'm sure I could have dug something out of my closet but these are special occasions and deserve a new outfit damnit!
The first dress that I bought for this weekend I purchased at Papaya. It's a light, summery white dress which I also plan to bring on the honeymoon. I know it's probably cliche to wear white for my bridal shower but I plan to be a bride only once in my life so may as well take advantage of it right?
The only thing I do know/have requested is no penis paraphernalia. To be honest I've never understood the whole point of weaing a penis necklace while drinking out of a penis straw for your bachelorette party. I guess back in the day when most chicks were still virgins on their wedding nights I could see how this would be "scandalous" but nowadays?? I hate to burst anyone's bubble but I have seen a penis before. Shocking I know! I have also requested no veils or other over the top accessories. Frankly I feel a bit too old for all that stuff.
My second shower will be at the end of April and is being hosted by my mother. The guest list for the second shower is made up of the female relatives and friends of the family. I didn't really want one big shower since I know most people hate sitting for two hours watching someone open presents, plus it's more expensive for the host when you have a larger guest list.
Now for the fun stuff. I bought two new dresses this past weekend for each of the showers. I'm sure I could have dug something out of my closet but these are special occasions and deserve a new outfit damnit!
The first dress that I bought for this weekend I purchased at Papaya. It's a light, summery white dress which I also plan to bring on the honeymoon. I know it's probably cliche to wear white for my bridal shower but I plan to be a bride only once in my life so may as well take advantage of it right?
I'm still trying to figure out shoes and accessories. The dress I bought for my family shower in April is from my home away from home otherwise known as Target.
I wanted something a bit dressier for the second one. I think I may add a big belt around the waist but I have some time to get those accessories. On another note, why do both models have the top half of their head cut off?? Do they have really hideous foreheads or something?
As for what I'm wearing for the bachelorette party festivities I'm still trying to figure that out. Probably my skinny jeans, sexy heels and some kind of dressy top but I'm still working that out.
Monday, March 22, 2010
The Name Game
**I'm getting married in exactly two months! Holy Crap!
Okay now that that's out of the way I wanted to talk about something that I'm really excited about in regards to getting married...changing my name! I know that whether or not to change your last name is often a touchy, highly debated topic. Several of my friends seriously debated whether or not to change their last names after getting married and it was a pretty tough decision for them to make though ultimately they did.
For me I've never questioned what I wanted to do or even considered keeping my last name and there are several reasons for this:
1. I'm pretty traditional about this kind of thing
2. I want to have the same last name as my future children
3. I've never been particularly fond of my last name which is often mis-pronounced
4. I'm not close to my dad or his side of the family so I don't feel a strong tie to keeping that association.
5. I love Kristian's last name
Now the question for me was whether or not to keep my middle name which is Elizabeth or drop my middle name and use my maiden name in it's place. Again this wasn't really a tough decision for me. Like I said I'm not particularly attached to my last name however I love my middle name and the fact that I share it with both my grandmother and niece. I'm also pretty excited about my new initials which will be going from SEG to SEP...it's too bad Kristian's last name doesn't start with an X because that would make for a really fun monogram!
The only thing that I'm NOT looking forward to is the name changing process which I hear can be a real time consuming bitch. My goal is to start working on the paper work prior to the wedding so that I can get this done soon after the honeymoon...but I don't know how motivated I'll really be when factored in with everything else I have on my to-do list.
So tell me...did you/will you all change your last name after getting married? Why or Why not?
Okay now that that's out of the way I wanted to talk about something that I'm really excited about in regards to getting married...changing my name! I know that whether or not to change your last name is often a touchy, highly debated topic. Several of my friends seriously debated whether or not to change their last names after getting married and it was a pretty tough decision for them to make though ultimately they did.
For me I've never questioned what I wanted to do or even considered keeping my last name and there are several reasons for this:
1. I'm pretty traditional about this kind of thing
2. I want to have the same last name as my future children
3. I've never been particularly fond of my last name which is often mis-pronounced
4. I'm not close to my dad or his side of the family so I don't feel a strong tie to keeping that association.
5. I love Kristian's last name
Now the question for me was whether or not to keep my middle name which is Elizabeth or drop my middle name and use my maiden name in it's place. Again this wasn't really a tough decision for me. Like I said I'm not particularly attached to my last name however I love my middle name and the fact that I share it with both my grandmother and niece. I'm also pretty excited about my new initials which will be going from SEG to SEP...it's too bad Kristian's last name doesn't start with an X because that would make for a really fun monogram!
The only thing that I'm NOT looking forward to is the name changing process which I hear can be a real time consuming bitch. My goal is to start working on the paper work prior to the wedding so that I can get this done soon after the honeymoon...but I don't know how motivated I'll really be when factored in with everything else I have on my to-do list.
So tell me...did you/will you all change your last name after getting married? Why or Why not?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Babies Babies Everywhere
My friends and I use to joke that 2008 was the year of the wedding since it seemed everyone we knew got married that year. Well it looks like 2010 is turning into the year of the baby. I'm not exaggerating when I say I know of at least 10 people due this year, including old high school and college friends, a co-worker, an ex-boyfriend's wife, of course Kristen and finally TWO of my four bridesmaids. Yes 50% of my bridesmaids are pregnant including my Matron of Honor!
Both Kelli and my MOH Krista have been married for a few years and I knew Krista was trying so it didn't come as a complete surprise. I found out about Kelli first who called me when she was only about 6 weeks along because she was very concerned about her size 0 bridesmaid dress that she ordered pre-pregnancy. She will be about 5 months at the time of the wedding so you can see why she is concerned. Krista will be about 4 months along but she planned ahead and ordered a dress size bigger than she would need if she weren't pregnant figuring she could always take it in if need be.
Since I anticipated at least one of the girls being pregnant I purposely chose a dress that was more flowy with an empire waist that could accommodate potential baby bumps.
(The bridesmaid dress but ours are black)
My bridesmaid Colleen went with me yesterday to pick up the four dresses. I'm bringing Kelli and Krista's dresses with me to my bridal shower this weekend so that they can try them on. Fortunately they still have two months to get any needed alterations done. I think the only area that may need alterations is the bust. Since this is the first pregnancy for both girls no one knows how much they will grow in the next two months but I'm hoping that they won't need to fix their dresses too much.
I'm so excited for all my friends that are expecting and to meet all these new additions this fall.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
***Update to Post
Quick update to my post from yesterday about our Photographer drama. Kristian talked to Annette (the owner of the company) today and she agreed to send back our $500 deposit! Whoo Hoo! We may have to wait up to 30 days to get it but better late than never. She will also be sending me a termination letter stating in writing that we are cancelling our contract, this way she can't come back to us in May and ask where her money is.
She did offer us the "Royal Package" for the same cost if we decided to stay with her, that package includes some albumns and other crap that we really don't need. Kristian turned her down. We don't want to do business with her and give her our money after the way she handled the situation. This way we can pay Amy and Bruce (our new photographers) the full fee rather than having them make only a fraction of the cost by going through Annette. We plan to meet with Amy and Bruce probably next week sometime to sign a new contract.
Looks like despite all the drama everything is going to work out which is a hugh relief!
She did offer us the "Royal Package" for the same cost if we decided to stay with her, that package includes some albumns and other crap that we really don't need. Kristian turned her down. We don't want to do business with her and give her our money after the way she handled the situation. This way we can pay Amy and Bruce (our new photographers) the full fee rather than having them make only a fraction of the cost by going through Annette. We plan to meet with Amy and Bruce probably next week sometime to sign a new contract.
Looks like despite all the drama everything is going to work out which is a hugh relief!
Rehearsing
Thanks to my fantastic in-laws to be we now have our Rehearsal Dinner restaurant booked! Kristian's parents will be hosting our Rehearsal Dinner the night before the wedding at The Fish Market in Old Town Alexandria close to the hotel where we'll be staying. The place is much nicer than the name suggests yet still has a pretty relaxed atmosphere which is what I wanted. I didn't want the rehearsal dinner to be fancier than the reception!
K's parents went this week for a tasting and to pick out the menu for that evening. We didn't attend the tasting which is unfortunate since apparently it was awesome and from the sounds of it blew our reception food tasting out of the water! I think they got about $200 worth of food to try.
The restaurant is in a cute area of the city and there is a large room upstairs that will be reserved just for us. Mary Jo (my FMIL) is planning the whole thing and trying to keep much of it a surprise so I'm not really sure what the decorations or anything like that will be. I am perfectly okay with that since I have enough on my plate with the wedding itself. I told her she basically has free reign when it comes to the RD. The less I'm involved the better in my opinion. The only thing I do know is the menu which I'm super excited about!
Hot Hors D'oeuvres:
Rumaki-scallops wrapped in bacon
Bruschetta
The Mariner's Dinner- Guests will be able to choose their entree
Crab Soup for starters
Entree Selections: Chesapeake Crab Cakes, Broiled Admiral's Platter, Fried Oyster Platter, Lobster Pasta, Chicken Supreme, and Spiced Shrimp
Dessert: Pop's Homemade Ice Cream
Open Bar-
Draft Beer
White Wine:
Siema Chardonnay, Italy
Delle Venezie Pinot Grigio, Italy
Red Wine:
Falling Star C. Sauvignon, CA
Red Rock Merlot, CA
Kristian and his father LOVE seafood and we had hoped to splurge for a Raw Seafood bar at the wedding however that wasn't in the budget so we decided to get our seafood fix the night before. I just hope I'm not too nervous to eat and enjoy all the great food.
K's parents went this week for a tasting and to pick out the menu for that evening. We didn't attend the tasting which is unfortunate since apparently it was awesome and from the sounds of it blew our reception food tasting out of the water! I think they got about $200 worth of food to try.
The restaurant is in a cute area of the city and there is a large room upstairs that will be reserved just for us. Mary Jo (my FMIL) is planning the whole thing and trying to keep much of it a surprise so I'm not really sure what the decorations or anything like that will be. I am perfectly okay with that since I have enough on my plate with the wedding itself. I told her she basically has free reign when it comes to the RD. The less I'm involved the better in my opinion. The only thing I do know is the menu which I'm super excited about!
Hot Hors D'oeuvres:
Rumaki-scallops wrapped in bacon
Bruschetta
The Mariner's Dinner- Guests will be able to choose their entree
Crab Soup for starters
Entree Selections: Chesapeake Crab Cakes, Broiled Admiral's Platter, Fried Oyster Platter, Lobster Pasta, Chicken Supreme, and Spiced Shrimp
Dessert: Pop's Homemade Ice Cream
Open Bar-
Draft Beer
White Wine:
Siema Chardonnay, Italy
Delle Venezie Pinot Grigio, Italy
Red Wine:
Falling Star C. Sauvignon, CA
Red Rock Merlot, CA
Kristian and his father LOVE seafood and we had hoped to splurge for a Raw Seafood bar at the wedding however that wasn't in the budget so we decided to get our seafood fix the night before. I just hope I'm not too nervous to eat and enjoy all the great food.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
If you want to learn how to stress out a bride continue reading....
I figured something bad would happen at some point before the wedding involving one of my vendors, with so many moving parts it just seemed bound to happen. And last night it did.
Two weeks ago I got a call from a lady who I thought was the assistant to the owner of the photography company that I hired for our wedding. She said that she wanted us to come in to go over everything for the wedding, I assumed the day of timeline and certain must-take shots. Last night Kristian and I went to the studio to discover that the woman who called that I thought was the owner’s assistant was in fact now our new photographer for the wedding day!
Let me back up a bit… last summer we hired a married couple Rob and Jen, who worked for this particular photography company. We met with them twice, signed the contract with them, they did our engagement pictures and told us they would be shooting our wedding. We liked them and thought they did a great job with our engagement pictures. I have never dealt directly with the owner of the company though she’s gotten great reviews on Wedding Wire.
Cut to last night when we’re told by Amy and her husband Bruce that Rob and Jen quit in November and now Amy and Bruce would be shooting the wedding! Say WHAAA?! Apparently Rob and Jen left the company and supposedly are out of the wedding photography business altogether, this happened in November yet NO ONE called us to let us know! I couldn’t believe it. Amy actually didn’t realize that the owner of the company Annette hadn’t already relayed this information to us so she and Bruce were caught off guard as well by having to be the bearer of bad news. Not only did Annette not inform us of the change but she didn’t even feel the need to be at the meeting last night to explain the situation/changes.
Needless to say we were NOT happy. Bruce and Amy were great though. They completely sympathized and offered to help us anyway they could. They showed us pictures of their work (which is BEAUTIFUL) gave us some of their background and walked us through their process. We explained that while they seemed great we didn’t know them and were nervous since we hadn’t had a chance to work with them at all. They understood and even offered to do another engagement session with us free of charge to not only make us comfortable but also to give them a chance to see how we photograph and interact with each other.
I should mention that Bruce and Amy are freelance photographers with 19 years experience. They come in and help Annette when she is overbooked but they aren’t specifically her employees. They did say that they would do our wedding regardless, meaning even if we decided to get out of our contract with Annette’s company we could hire them separately for the same rate (though they typically charge more). They felt awful about our situation and really wanted to help us out.
When we got home we called Annette who didn’t seem to have a good explanation for why we weren’t told sooner of the change. When we asked if she could offer us a discount or something extra to make up for the last minute change she basically told us that if we wanted to get out of our contract that was fine. She didn’t seem too concerned about keeping our business…so she’s not. We told her we wanted out of our contract and we wanted our deposit back. She said she would have to discuss that with her lawyer and would get back to us today. I doubt we’ll get that money back but Bruce and Amy said they wouldn’t charge us another deposit. We could just proceed from the point we’re at now. We called them after talking to Annette and told them to hold the date for us and we could get together and sign a contract with them.
I just thank God Kristian was with me…I almost just had him stay home since I thought the meeting was just a standard pre-wedding meeting to discuss details. He decided to come anyway and ended up being a life saver. I sat on the couch a bit shell shocked and trying not to break into a full fledged panic attack while he discussed all our options with Bruce and Amy. He was also the one to talk to Annette and try to negotiate a deal. He’s a salesguy so he’s really good at that kind of thing. Meanwhile I was freaking out…I don’t do well with last minute changes.
Ultimately I think this change will be for the best. We were impressed with Bruce and Amy’s work and really liked their personalities so I think they’ll do a great job for us. It sucks having to go through this 2 months out from the wedding but better now than 2 weeks before the wedding.
Two weeks ago I got a call from a lady who I thought was the assistant to the owner of the photography company that I hired for our wedding. She said that she wanted us to come in to go over everything for the wedding, I assumed the day of timeline and certain must-take shots. Last night Kristian and I went to the studio to discover that the woman who called that I thought was the owner’s assistant was in fact now our new photographer for the wedding day!
Let me back up a bit… last summer we hired a married couple Rob and Jen, who worked for this particular photography company. We met with them twice, signed the contract with them, they did our engagement pictures and told us they would be shooting our wedding. We liked them and thought they did a great job with our engagement pictures. I have never dealt directly with the owner of the company though she’s gotten great reviews on Wedding Wire.
Cut to last night when we’re told by Amy and her husband Bruce that Rob and Jen quit in November and now Amy and Bruce would be shooting the wedding! Say WHAAA?! Apparently Rob and Jen left the company and supposedly are out of the wedding photography business altogether, this happened in November yet NO ONE called us to let us know! I couldn’t believe it. Amy actually didn’t realize that the owner of the company Annette hadn’t already relayed this information to us so she and Bruce were caught off guard as well by having to be the bearer of bad news. Not only did Annette not inform us of the change but she didn’t even feel the need to be at the meeting last night to explain the situation/changes.
Needless to say we were NOT happy. Bruce and Amy were great though. They completely sympathized and offered to help us anyway they could. They showed us pictures of their work (which is BEAUTIFUL) gave us some of their background and walked us through their process. We explained that while they seemed great we didn’t know them and were nervous since we hadn’t had a chance to work with them at all. They understood and even offered to do another engagement session with us free of charge to not only make us comfortable but also to give them a chance to see how we photograph and interact with each other.
I should mention that Bruce and Amy are freelance photographers with 19 years experience. They come in and help Annette when she is overbooked but they aren’t specifically her employees. They did say that they would do our wedding regardless, meaning even if we decided to get out of our contract with Annette’s company we could hire them separately for the same rate (though they typically charge more). They felt awful about our situation and really wanted to help us out.
When we got home we called Annette who didn’t seem to have a good explanation for why we weren’t told sooner of the change. When we asked if she could offer us a discount or something extra to make up for the last minute change she basically told us that if we wanted to get out of our contract that was fine. She didn’t seem too concerned about keeping our business…so she’s not. We told her we wanted out of our contract and we wanted our deposit back. She said she would have to discuss that with her lawyer and would get back to us today. I doubt we’ll get that money back but Bruce and Amy said they wouldn’t charge us another deposit. We could just proceed from the point we’re at now. We called them after talking to Annette and told them to hold the date for us and we could get together and sign a contract with them.
I just thank God Kristian was with me…I almost just had him stay home since I thought the meeting was just a standard pre-wedding meeting to discuss details. He decided to come anyway and ended up being a life saver. I sat on the couch a bit shell shocked and trying not to break into a full fledged panic attack while he discussed all our options with Bruce and Amy. He was also the one to talk to Annette and try to negotiate a deal. He’s a salesguy so he’s really good at that kind of thing. Meanwhile I was freaking out…I don’t do well with last minute changes.
Ultimately I think this change will be for the best. We were impressed with Bruce and Amy’s work and really liked their personalities so I think they’ll do a great job for us. It sucks having to go through this 2 months out from the wedding but better now than 2 weeks before the wedding.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Hand Off
One thing I haven’t talked about yet is who will be walking me down the aisle. I don’t really like the term “giving me away”…I don’t feel like I’m a piece of property that can be given away. Despite my lack of affection for that term that didn’t stop me from wanting to have someone walk me down the aisle and “present” me to Kristian. First off, I like the tradition and secondly I will probably be too nervous to make it the whole way by myself.
I know that most women have their father walk them down and to be honest I always get a little teary watching this part of the ceremony. It’s cute watching the fathers get all emotional and is just such a sweet father/daughter moment. With that said I will not be having my father walk me down the aisle.
My parents divorced over 20 years ago and both before and after the divorce I was never really close with my dad. I was always a mama’s girl. My relationship, actually my whole family’s relationship, with my father has always been pretty rocky. He’s caused every member of my family and even his own family (i.e. my uncle) a tremendous amount of stress and without going into detail has basically been emotionally abusive. I have tried in the past to work on my relationship with my father. I’ve tried explaining to him why we all feel the way we do and point out the things that he’s done to cause us to not want a relationship with him. Yet he refuses to acknowledge or apologize for the part he’s played in the demise of our relationship but would rather continue to send long emails wondering why we all “hate” him and how he doesn’t understand what he’s done because in his mind he was a “great” father. I’ve finally stopped trying. I told him that while I wish him no ill will I think it’s best if he weren’t part of my life.
Because of this he will not only NOT be walking me down the aisle but he is also NOT invited to the wedding. In fact he doesn’t even know I’m engaged. He does know I have someone in my life but I never told him about the engagement. It may seem wrong but everyone in the family agrees this is for the best. He is the type of person who if he knew I was getting married would do whatever he could to find out the time/place and show up and cause a scene. Will I tell him I’m married after the fact? Perhaps.
Since I always knew that I didn’t want my father to walk me down the aisle I decided a long time ago (like when I was a teenager) that I would have my oldest brother Michael do the honors. Michael is 7 years older than me and has always been there to serve the fatherly role in my life. We’ve always been close, I even lived with him after college for a year and a half. He’s helped me with all the big moments of my life to date….teaching me how to drive stick shift, helping me apply to college, helping me purchase both of my cars, moving into all my various apartments and most recently gifting Kristian and I with a fabulous honeymoon. He and Kristian have become quite close and I know that Michael views him as a brother so I think it’s quite fitting for him to be the one to hand me off to Kristian on the wedding day.
I know that nowadays a lot of women will have their mother’s walk them down the aisle. And that was something I did consider but both my mother and I are pretty traditional when it comes to this sort of thing and she seemed really excited to watch her oldest child walk her youngest child down the aisle. She is also pretty excited that my other brother Keith will be escorting her down the aisle during the ceremony. I think it will be pretty emotional for us all.
I know that most women have their father walk them down and to be honest I always get a little teary watching this part of the ceremony. It’s cute watching the fathers get all emotional and is just such a sweet father/daughter moment. With that said I will not be having my father walk me down the aisle.
My parents divorced over 20 years ago and both before and after the divorce I was never really close with my dad. I was always a mama’s girl. My relationship, actually my whole family’s relationship, with my father has always been pretty rocky. He’s caused every member of my family and even his own family (i.e. my uncle) a tremendous amount of stress and without going into detail has basically been emotionally abusive. I have tried in the past to work on my relationship with my father. I’ve tried explaining to him why we all feel the way we do and point out the things that he’s done to cause us to not want a relationship with him. Yet he refuses to acknowledge or apologize for the part he’s played in the demise of our relationship but would rather continue to send long emails wondering why we all “hate” him and how he doesn’t understand what he’s done because in his mind he was a “great” father. I’ve finally stopped trying. I told him that while I wish him no ill will I think it’s best if he weren’t part of my life.
Because of this he will not only NOT be walking me down the aisle but he is also NOT invited to the wedding. In fact he doesn’t even know I’m engaged. He does know I have someone in my life but I never told him about the engagement. It may seem wrong but everyone in the family agrees this is for the best. He is the type of person who if he knew I was getting married would do whatever he could to find out the time/place and show up and cause a scene. Will I tell him I’m married after the fact? Perhaps.
Since I always knew that I didn’t want my father to walk me down the aisle I decided a long time ago (like when I was a teenager) that I would have my oldest brother Michael do the honors. Michael is 7 years older than me and has always been there to serve the fatherly role in my life. We’ve always been close, I even lived with him after college for a year and a half. He’s helped me with all the big moments of my life to date….teaching me how to drive stick shift, helping me apply to college, helping me purchase both of my cars, moving into all my various apartments and most recently gifting Kristian and I with a fabulous honeymoon. He and Kristian have become quite close and I know that Michael views him as a brother so I think it’s quite fitting for him to be the one to hand me off to Kristian on the wedding day.
I know that nowadays a lot of women will have their mother’s walk them down the aisle. And that was something I did consider but both my mother and I are pretty traditional when it comes to this sort of thing and she seemed really excited to watch her oldest child walk her youngest child down the aisle. She is also pretty excited that my other brother Keith will be escorting her down the aisle during the ceremony. I think it will be pretty emotional for us all.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Putting a Ring on It
Today was a very big day...we ordered my wedding ring!! We went to a few different stores including Kay Jewelers and Shaw's but ultimately decided to buy a ring at Helzberg Diamonds which we had visited a few months ago. All three stores had a ring there that would have worked and they were all about the same price but we really liked the sales people at Helzberg and we were able to get the lifetime warranty, so I can bring the ring in every 6 months or so for a free cleaning and inspection. If any of the diamonds fall out or get chipped they'll replace them for free as well as re-size the ring for free once I let myself go and get fat after the wedding ;-)
Since my finger is quite tiny, a size 5, they had to order a custom ring in that size rather than re-size the one they already had in the store. The ring should arrive in 4-5 weeks.
Since my finger is quite tiny, a size 5, they had to order a custom ring in that size rather than re-size the one they already had in the store. The ring should arrive in 4-5 weeks.
Because my engagement ring was a custom design we were having a tough time finding a wedding band to match. Actually we weren't able to find an exact match. You wouldn't think it would be that hard to pick out a basic diamond band but some rings were either too thick or too thin next to my curret ring, or the setting of the diamonds looked odd when sitting next to the setting of the diamonds on my e-ring band. But despite not being able to find an exact match I think we did pretty well with finding a ring that goes nicely with my e-ring and for FAR less the cost of what it would have been to make a custom wedding band.
Here is a picture of my engagement ring again:
And here is a picture of my wedding band:
I think this band is classic and will look really pretty even on it's own for the times when I don't want to wear my e-ring. I'm so excited to wear this ring everyday for the rest of my life!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Toxic Womanizing Gold Digger
We booked our DJ a few months back courtesy of my fabulous mother who offered to pay for one after I told her my plan of using our IPOD for music to save money. The DJ company that we are using posted a list of their Top 200 Most Requested Songs of the Past Year. Meaning people actually WANTED to hear these songs.
Well I printed off the list to use as a guide for creating our own Do Not Play list as well as get ideas for other song we do want to incorporate into the wedding. We're still in the process of picking songs for the ceremony, dinner, dancing. We haven't even decided on our first dance song yet but that's another story.
Anyways while looking over the list I was shocked to see some of the songs listed. Songs that have played at WEDDINGS. First let me start by saying that a lot of these songs I like, hell I have most of them on my IPOD...however they are probably not very wedding appropriate. For example-
Britney Spears- 'Womanizer'....ummm I don't think I would be marrying Kristian if he were a womanizer.
Britney Spears- 'Toxic'....again I really don't consider Kristian or our relationship Toxic
Kanye West- 'Gold Digger'... seriously?! How on Earth would this be appropriate to play at a wedding??
Pussycat Dolls- 'Don't Cha Wish your Girlfriend was Hot like me'- No explanation needed on this one.
Nelly Furtado- 'Promiscuous'- Yeah this might give my new in-laws the wrong idea about me
Madonna- 'Like a Prayer'- isn't this the one where she was making out with the black Jesus in the music video??
Katy Perry- 'I kissed a girl'- ummm this song is about two chicks making out 'nuff said
In addition to the inappropriate songs on this list that will NOT be played I am including a pretty extensive list of songs that just personally annoy the shit out of us including-
-Macarena......Hate Hate Hate this song
-The Chicken Dance.....that's a big fat N-O
-The Electric Slide....it's not a 6th grade dance
-Y.M.C.A....I'm basically anti line/choreographed dances
-Anything by the Black Eyed Peas....this is Kristian's request, I don't mind the BEP
There are about 100 other songs that will be making the Do Not Play list but this is just a sampling. Are there any other songs that I definitely SHOULDN'T play at the wedding or rather songs that you think would get the crowd up and dancing??
Well I printed off the list to use as a guide for creating our own Do Not Play list as well as get ideas for other song we do want to incorporate into the wedding. We're still in the process of picking songs for the ceremony, dinner, dancing. We haven't even decided on our first dance song yet but that's another story.
Anyways while looking over the list I was shocked to see some of the songs listed. Songs that have played at WEDDINGS. First let me start by saying that a lot of these songs I like, hell I have most of them on my IPOD...however they are probably not very wedding appropriate. For example-
Britney Spears- 'Womanizer'....ummm I don't think I would be marrying Kristian if he were a womanizer.
Britney Spears- 'Toxic'....again I really don't consider Kristian or our relationship Toxic
Kanye West- 'Gold Digger'... seriously?! How on Earth would this be appropriate to play at a wedding??
Pussycat Dolls- 'Don't Cha Wish your Girlfriend was Hot like me'- No explanation needed on this one.
Nelly Furtado- 'Promiscuous'- Yeah this might give my new in-laws the wrong idea about me
Madonna- 'Like a Prayer'- isn't this the one where she was making out with the black Jesus in the music video??
Katy Perry- 'I kissed a girl'- ummm this song is about two chicks making out 'nuff said
In addition to the inappropriate songs on this list that will NOT be played I am including a pretty extensive list of songs that just personally annoy the shit out of us including-
-Macarena......Hate Hate Hate this song
-The Chicken Dance.....that's a big fat N-O
-The Electric Slide....it's not a 6th grade dance
-Y.M.C.A....I'm basically anti line/choreographed dances
-Anything by the Black Eyed Peas....this is Kristian's request, I don't mind the BEP
There are about 100 other songs that will be making the Do Not Play list but this is just a sampling. Are there any other songs that I definitely SHOULDN'T play at the wedding or rather songs that you think would get the crowd up and dancing??
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Swag
**If you are one of my bridesmaids please DO NOT READ this post!!! Do not pass go, do not collect $200 and do not keep reading! It will ruin a surprise for you *sad face*
Okay now that that's taken care of I want to talk about the goodies I bought for my bridesmaids to thank them for putting up with me/continuing to be my friend/taking part in my oh-so-special day.
When trying to come up with an idea for what to get my bridesmaids I did know what I didn't want to get them and that was matching jewelry. Don't get me wrong I love jewelry as much as the next girl but I felt that since I was having them wear matching dresses I wanted them to be able to show their own style and personality through their shoes/jewelry/hair/makeup. I also knew that I did want something personalized.
So I actually ended up with two gifts for them. Both could be used on the wedding day and (hopefully) after the wedding.
The first is a clutch that they can use for the wedding reception. I bought it off of the Etsy shop Longrunners. It has both the black and white damask pattern that I'm incorporating into the wedding and the pink color which I'm using for the flowers. I liked them so much I bought one for myself! Once I received them I decided to personalize them a bit by adding some rhinestones inside to include each girl's first initial. It's not Prada but I think it's cute.
(The inside with the bling)
Okay now that that's taken care of I want to talk about the goodies I bought for my bridesmaids to thank them for putting up with me/continuing to be my friend/taking part in my oh-so-special day.
When trying to come up with an idea for what to get my bridesmaids I did know what I didn't want to get them and that was matching jewelry. Don't get me wrong I love jewelry as much as the next girl but I felt that since I was having them wear matching dresses I wanted them to be able to show their own style and personality through their shoes/jewelry/hair/makeup. I also knew that I did want something personalized.
So I actually ended up with two gifts for them. Both could be used on the wedding day and (hopefully) after the wedding.
The first is a clutch that they can use for the wedding reception. I bought it off of the Etsy shop Longrunners. It has both the black and white damask pattern that I'm incorporating into the wedding and the pink color which I'm using for the flowers. I liked them so much I bought one for myself! Once I received them I decided to personalize them a bit by adding some rhinestones inside to include each girl's first initial. It's not Prada but I think it's cute.
(The inside with the bling)
( I can't seem to get this picture to turn the right way. My bad)
In addition to the clutches I decided to get the girls comestic/toiletry bags (also in my wedding colors) that I found on myweddingfavors.com . I plan to fill these with travel size items they might need on the wedding day like hairspray, bobby pins, advil, breath mints etc. These were also able to be personalized with little buttons of their first initials.
(A girl can never have too many makeup bags)
There was a sale going on and they threw in personalized thank you cards along with the bags. I plan to use these as part of my thank you gifts to my bridesmaids who are hosting my shower in two weeks.
I really hope the girls like the gifts and will find them useful in the future.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
$$$$
I must admit something. I’m addicted to porn.....wedding porn. I can’t help myself, if there is a wedding show on t.v. I must watch it. I watch them all...Bridezilla’s, Platinum Weddings, Say Yes to the Dress, Rich Bride Poor Bride...the list goes on. I’ve always loved these shows even before I got engaged...or met Kristian for that matter. But here’s the thing the closer I get to my own wedding the less interest I have in these shows. Yes I still watch but usually while I’m also surfing the Internet or cleaning. And most of the time I find myself getting irritated while watching them...primarily Platinum Weddings and Say Yes to the Dress whose main premise is to discuss how much money these couples are spending on their wedding/dresses.
This past weekend Platinum Weddings showed a wedding for a couple where the bride’s father spent $1.5 MILLION....a MILLION dollars on the wedding...A WEDDING! That is one day! Are you effin kidding me?! Look I’m sure there are people out there that would look at our budget and how much money we’re spending for one day and say that it’s a waste for a one day event. And maybe they are right. But I can tell you that for the DC area our budget falls on the LOW end of the scale. If you want to get married around here you’ll be spending a minimum of $10K unless you have the wedding in a backyard with pizza and a keg (though at this point that actually sounds like a good idea).
With that said I still can’t imagine spending a MILLION dollars on a wedding...hell I can’t imagine spending $100K on a wedding but maybe that’s because I grew up shopping at Target and Payless. I guess if you’ve always had money this is all you know. It just amazes me that some of these people spend more on their flowers or alcohol than I am spending on my entire wedding. In addition to the money these weddings will have THOUSANDS of flowers (usually flown in from South America or Europe)...what do they do with all these flowers after the wedding? I really hope they donate them to a hospital or a nursing home or maybe a less fortunate couple getting married the next day. It just seems so wasteful. I guess if you have that kind of money to spend more power to you but it's not something I think I could do...even if I won Mega Millions tomorrow.
As for Say Yes to the Dress it cracks me up when these girls go in talking about how because they are on a budget they can ONLY spend $3-5K on a dress! And most of the time the dress is ugly (in my opinion) or looks just like one I saw at David’s Bridal for $700. Then again maybe I’m just jealous and bitter that I can’t afford a $10K Monique Lhuiller gown…but I doubt it.
On a side note... I was watching The Bachelor wedding of Molly and Jason (another million dollar wedding) Monday night...while in the process of printing off my own invitations that I bought for $20 a box at Michael’s... HOLLA. First let me say that I still can’t believe Molly agreed to date Jason 30 seconds after he dumped the fiancé that he proposed to 30 seconds after dumping her in the first place. But that’s neither here nor there I suppose. What killed me was that these idiots got married during a torrential downpour while their poor guests were shivering under umbrellas. It’s called a Rain Plan...Use it! It had only been raining all day why would one think to move it indoors?! Crazy right? Oh and when Jason said how easy the whole planning process had been I wanted to crawl through my t.v. and smack him in the face...yeah when ABC is planning and paying for the whole thing I guess it would be pretty easy. Douche.
Okay I’m stepping down from my soap box now. It feels much better to get that off my chest :-)
**If any of my readers are throwing a million dollar wedding please know I'm not talking about you...oh and please send me an invite to the wedding :)
This past weekend Platinum Weddings showed a wedding for a couple where the bride’s father spent $1.5 MILLION....a MILLION dollars on the wedding...A WEDDING! That is one day! Are you effin kidding me?! Look I’m sure there are people out there that would look at our budget and how much money we’re spending for one day and say that it’s a waste for a one day event. And maybe they are right. But I can tell you that for the DC area our budget falls on the LOW end of the scale. If you want to get married around here you’ll be spending a minimum of $10K unless you have the wedding in a backyard with pizza and a keg (though at this point that actually sounds like a good idea).
With that said I still can’t imagine spending a MILLION dollars on a wedding...hell I can’t imagine spending $100K on a wedding but maybe that’s because I grew up shopping at Target and Payless. I guess if you’ve always had money this is all you know. It just amazes me that some of these people spend more on their flowers or alcohol than I am spending on my entire wedding. In addition to the money these weddings will have THOUSANDS of flowers (usually flown in from South America or Europe)...what do they do with all these flowers after the wedding? I really hope they donate them to a hospital or a nursing home or maybe a less fortunate couple getting married the next day. It just seems so wasteful. I guess if you have that kind of money to spend more power to you but it's not something I think I could do...even if I won Mega Millions tomorrow.
As for Say Yes to the Dress it cracks me up when these girls go in talking about how because they are on a budget they can ONLY spend $3-5K on a dress! And most of the time the dress is ugly (in my opinion) or looks just like one I saw at David’s Bridal for $700. Then again maybe I’m just jealous and bitter that I can’t afford a $10K Monique Lhuiller gown…but I doubt it.
On a side note... I was watching The Bachelor wedding of Molly and Jason (another million dollar wedding) Monday night...while in the process of printing off my own invitations that I bought for $20 a box at Michael’s... HOLLA. First let me say that I still can’t believe Molly agreed to date Jason 30 seconds after he dumped the fiancé that he proposed to 30 seconds after dumping her in the first place. But that’s neither here nor there I suppose. What killed me was that these idiots got married during a torrential downpour while their poor guests were shivering under umbrellas. It’s called a Rain Plan...Use it! It had only been raining all day why would one think to move it indoors?! Crazy right? Oh and when Jason said how easy the whole planning process had been I wanted to crawl through my t.v. and smack him in the face...yeah when ABC is planning and paying for the whole thing I guess it would be pretty easy. Douche.
Okay I’m stepping down from my soap box now. It feels much better to get that off my chest :-)
**If any of my readers are throwing a million dollar wedding please know I'm not talking about you...oh and please send me an invite to the wedding :)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The List
For the past month I’ve been in the process of printing and assembling our invitations which I bought at Michael’s. I think they look great so far but the whole process has given me a headache and my printer almost became a wedding casualty last night when it decided to print shit crooked and have constant paper jams *angry fists*
Now that we are coming to the part of the process of addressing said invitations Kristian has once again been giving me shit on my part of the guest list. Keep in mind we already sent save the dates and Emily Post would roll over in her grave (she’s dead right?) if I didn’t invite someone who I sent a STD to so not much I can do regardless. Here’s the issue, we are trying to keep the guest list down to a reasonable number, though our ideas of reasonable are different. If it were up to him we would have just invited immediate family and maybe 3 friends each, my idea of reasonable is 100 people…50 people each. And when you consider most of those are couples that = 25 couples each which is not that many.
The problem lies in the fact that Kristian’s family is much bigger than mine. His mom has 3 siblings and his dad has 4 siblings plus their spouses AND Kristian decided he needed to include all first cousins. So basically his family alone is about 50 people. Once you throw in his groomsmen and like 3 friends he’s far exceeded the 50 person limit I was hoping for. Now my family on the other hand is much smaller…at least the family I actually see on a somewhat regular basis and therefore plan to invite. I’m not inviting all my cousins because I never see them. My family = like 15 people. Therefore I had more room to invite friends. Well Kristian is upset that I’m inviting more of my friends than he is. I keep “lovingly” pointing out that his family is much bigger than mine and therefore take up more spots on the list. This list can't be 75% his guests and 25% my guests simply because my family is smaller.
He was going through the list last night and questioning all my friends (the ones that I’m not super BFF’s with) and asking me “when was the last time you talked to her” or “who is this person again” or “why are we inviting them” Sigh. I really don’t like having to defend my guest list choices. Thanks to the sorority reunion from 2 weeks ago he’s now met all but one of the friends I’m planning to invite so I don’t see what the big effin deal is. It's not like the room will be full of strangers. He seems to feel that unless I talk to these people twice a day everyday they shouldn’t be invited. **Note I don’t talk to ANY of my friends twice a day everyday…not even my MOH.
Oh and of course we have to factor in our parent’s friends. When we told his mom that we couldn’t afford to invite her 5 BFF’s in addition to the two couples we were already including on their behalf they did offer to pay for their friends which is a big help. However our guest list which was suppose to be no more than 100 is now topping 115. I’m hoping after RSVP’s come back we’re in more of the 90 person range since that’s the budget I’ve been working with.
Now that we are coming to the part of the process of addressing said invitations Kristian has once again been giving me shit on my part of the guest list. Keep in mind we already sent save the dates and Emily Post would roll over in her grave (she’s dead right?) if I didn’t invite someone who I sent a STD to so not much I can do regardless. Here’s the issue, we are trying to keep the guest list down to a reasonable number, though our ideas of reasonable are different. If it were up to him we would have just invited immediate family and maybe 3 friends each, my idea of reasonable is 100 people…50 people each. And when you consider most of those are couples that = 25 couples each which is not that many.
The problem lies in the fact that Kristian’s family is much bigger than mine. His mom has 3 siblings and his dad has 4 siblings plus their spouses AND Kristian decided he needed to include all first cousins. So basically his family alone is about 50 people. Once you throw in his groomsmen and like 3 friends he’s far exceeded the 50 person limit I was hoping for. Now my family on the other hand is much smaller…at least the family I actually see on a somewhat regular basis and therefore plan to invite. I’m not inviting all my cousins because I never see them. My family = like 15 people. Therefore I had more room to invite friends. Well Kristian is upset that I’m inviting more of my friends than he is. I keep “lovingly” pointing out that his family is much bigger than mine and therefore take up more spots on the list. This list can't be 75% his guests and 25% my guests simply because my family is smaller.
He was going through the list last night and questioning all my friends (the ones that I’m not super BFF’s with) and asking me “when was the last time you talked to her” or “who is this person again” or “why are we inviting them” Sigh. I really don’t like having to defend my guest list choices. Thanks to the sorority reunion from 2 weeks ago he’s now met all but one of the friends I’m planning to invite so I don’t see what the big effin deal is. It's not like the room will be full of strangers. He seems to feel that unless I talk to these people twice a day everyday they shouldn’t be invited. **Note I don’t talk to ANY of my friends twice a day everyday…not even my MOH.
Oh and of course we have to factor in our parent’s friends. When we told his mom that we couldn’t afford to invite her 5 BFF’s in addition to the two couples we were already including on their behalf they did offer to pay for their friends which is a big help. However our guest list which was suppose to be no more than 100 is now topping 115. I’m hoping after RSVP’s come back we’re in more of the 90 person range since that’s the budget I’ve been working with.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Spring Cleaning
The weather has FINALLY started to warm up and by warm up I mean the 50's but after getting like 3 feet of snow this winter I'll take 50 degree weather.
In honor of the warm up and due to the fact that I've had a stuffy nose for the past month which I'm now convinced are allergies (I've never suffered from allergies before) we decided to do a massive clean on the condo yesterday. We got up and made our way to Lowe's to use a $50 gift card I had to buy a new vacuum. I don't even want to tell you how long it's been since we've vacuumed since our other one was broken. We also picked up a new mop and various other cleaning supplies.
We came home and spent about 3 hours cleaning the whole condo (though I still need to go thru all the wedding crap taking over the guest room). And God Bless Kristian who took on the more disgusting of the chores including changing AND washing out BOTH litter boxes, moping the laundry, bathroom and kitchen floors and cleaning out the refrigerator. I dusted the whole house, cleaned our bathroom, did the laundry, cleaned the kitchen including the stove and microwave and washed the windows. We jammed out to Bob Marley during the cleaning process.
The whole thing wasn't too bad and it was nice doing it together. Kristian is actually a much better cleaner than I am. Unfortunately I don't think the vacuuming and dusting has helped cure my stuffy nose but at least the house looks and smells much better.
In honor of the warm up and due to the fact that I've had a stuffy nose for the past month which I'm now convinced are allergies (I've never suffered from allergies before) we decided to do a massive clean on the condo yesterday. We got up and made our way to Lowe's to use a $50 gift card I had to buy a new vacuum. I don't even want to tell you how long it's been since we've vacuumed since our other one was broken. We also picked up a new mop and various other cleaning supplies.
We came home and spent about 3 hours cleaning the whole condo (though I still need to go thru all the wedding crap taking over the guest room). And God Bless Kristian who took on the more disgusting of the chores including changing AND washing out BOTH litter boxes, moping the laundry, bathroom and kitchen floors and cleaning out the refrigerator. I dusted the whole house, cleaned our bathroom, did the laundry, cleaned the kitchen including the stove and microwave and washed the windows. We jammed out to Bob Marley during the cleaning process.
The whole thing wasn't too bad and it was nice doing it together. Kristian is actually a much better cleaner than I am. Unfortunately I don't think the vacuuming and dusting has helped cure my stuffy nose but at least the house looks and smells much better.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Please Sign Here
When it came time to figure out what to do for our guest book it didn't take long to decide on what we wanted. I knew I didn't want the standard lined guest book that you find in most stores that guests just sign their name and address in. We wanted something a bit more personal, something that we would keep and actually look at and something that we could use our engagement pictures for. I knew we wouldn't display a large photo with a signed matted frame so we decided to go for a photobook that guests could write messages, advice and well wishes in. Similar to a yearbook. Since I wanted to put our engagement pictures into a photo albumn this killed two birds with one stone.
I decided to use Kodak's website to create our photobook. Most of my photos are already downloaded on that site and I've used it in the past to create other photobooks. Their pricing is reasonable and it's really user-friendly. If I can figure it out ANYONE can figure it out. Plus they already had a style that worked well with our wedding style.
I decided to use Kodak's website to create our photobook. Most of my photos are already downloaded on that site and I've used it in the past to create other photobooks. Their pricing is reasonable and it's really user-friendly. If I can figure it out ANYONE can figure it out. Plus they already had a style that worked well with our wedding style.
It took me a bit of time to create each page and figure out what layouts I wanted to use and how to position the pictures but overall I'm really happy with the results. I also included 6 blank pages throughout for people to sign. I think this will make a great keepsake for us to look back through in the future.
Below are a few pictures of some of my favorite pages.
( The Cover)
(The Back Cover)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Opinions Needed
I'm pale. Really pale. IcouldstarinTwilightasavampire kinda pale. Normally I don't mind this. Much. I've come to accept my paleness, the same way I've come to accept my small boobs. However the thought of my skintone blending in with my wedding dress doesn't exactly make me want to jump for joy.
I did the whole tanning bed thing in my younger years...hence the lovely wrinkles on my forehead. And since I'm not a fan of skin cancer I'm not planning to go the Jersery Shore route. I also doubt I'll get much face time with the actual sun before the wedding while I'm running around trying to finish my bazillion errands. So that leaves me with basically two options....lotion or spray tanning.
I've tried the lotion route before with Meh results. So I need your help. Spray Tanning...
I did the whole tanning bed thing in my younger years...hence the lovely wrinkles on my forehead. And since I'm not a fan of skin cancer I'm not planning to go the Jersery Shore route. I also doubt I'll get much face time with the actual sun before the wedding while I'm running around trying to finish my bazillion errands. So that leaves me with basically two options....lotion or spray tanning.
I've tried the lotion route before with Meh results. So I need your help. Spray Tanning...
Yay or Nay?
Keep in mind I really don't want to look like this on my wedding day:
Keep in mind I really don't want to look like this on my wedding day:
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